Wearable tech set to go mainstream among travellers
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Travellers and holidaymakers around the world, including here in Thailand, are expected soon to experience the latest tool - wearable electronics - to provide them with complete travel solutions from a single device.
According to “The Global Trends Report”, which is created exclusively for the “World Travel Market” event by Euromonitor International’s travel and tourism research team, travel technology, and especially wearable electronic tools – accessories incorporating computer and advanced electronic technologies and designed to incorporate practical functions and features – will erupt in tourism business, as they become an important way for travellers to connect with the Internet while on the go.
The report states that wearable Internet-connected devices will allow travellers to constantly receive notifications and services during their trip, as well as make bookings.
Furthermore, the technology represents a challenge for travel companies, which will need to build a flexible technological architecture to follow their customers from one device to another.
Simon Press, World Travel Market’s senior exhibition director, said in November at the annual global travel show in London that wearable-electronics technology was now expected to go mainstream by 2016.
The Internet-connected devices are expected to soar from 9 million units sold globally in 2013 to a forecast 180 million in 2016.
Products currently on sale include the Sony SmartWatch, Samsung Galaxy Gear and Google Glass.
Google has also developed Android Wear software for wearable electronics, while the Apple Watch will go on sale early this year and is expected to take the sector by storm, as other Apple products have done for smart phones and tablets.
Asian trends
Meanwhile, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation estimates that more than 500 million tourists travelled to Asia last year, and that the number will continue to surge this year, with China leading the swell.
With the growth of inbound and outbound tourists in the Asia-Pacific region, international arrivals into Asia are increasing by 6.3 per cent per year, higher than the world average of 5.3 per cent.
The Asian-millennial-traveller (AMT) segment is said to be setting the trend of international of tourism as a new generation of travellers, while the number of emerging-middle-class (EMC) tourists around the world, including in Thailand, is growing rapidly.
AMTs are young Asian professionals in the 18-36 age bracket.
The global EMC population is currently 565 million, but this is expected to reach 3.5 billion by 2030. Furthermore, it is forecast that 8.5 per cent of the total will be in Southeast Asia.
According to an international survey, it is speculated that China will become a super-huge market for EMCs in the near future.
The increasingly high number of free individual travellers – the FIT segment – from China represents an opportunity for travel operators worldwide.
Unlike the traditional middle class, new EMC tourists have irregular income flows and are also highly concerned about the value of what they are purchasing.
An average of 42 per cent of EMC tourists own a mobile phone, computer or tablet in India, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia, the survey found, while Myanmar is following this trend.
The study urges travel operators to capture the attention of online users, create more attractive activities through social media and design applications to meet the new demand.
Online travel agencies, including industry giants Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda and TripAdvisor, say the increasing number of Asian travellers will drive the growth of online bookings.
Use of the Internet for travel has expanded by 50 per cent in the region, while online ticketing has doubled over the past few years, as a result of which they are forced to develop more marketing and solutions to meet the needs of a new generation of travellers.
The International Air Transport Association forecast that some 3.3 billion passengers boarded flights last year, a number that is expected to more than double to 7.3 billion by 2034.
